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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Hi, my name is Rya. I am a sophomore and I enjoy reading, swimming and traveling.

In the 1950s, “woman” and “chemist” were two words that were generally not used in the same sentence. But Elizabeth Zott is both of these, and is not socially accepted because of it. Although Elizabeth is equally as intelligent as her male counterparts, most of them disrespect her, many sexually harass her, and a couple have stolen her work and published it as their own.

But when Elizabeth and Calvin Evans, a brilliant and well-respected chemist, begin to develop a relationship, people think that Elizabeth is only in it because it will improve her career status. People don’t understand that the two are truly in love and that Elizabeth, wanting none of Calvin’s help, expects to make her own way in her career.

As her life takes a few turns and she begins to need financial support, Elizabeth begrudgingly joins Supper at Six, a cooking show that she becomes the star of. Instead of playing the role of an agreeable housewife, Elizabeth takes on the role of a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact scientist, who teaches cooking through the lens of chemistry. Although controversial, the show becomes a huge success, boosting Elizabeth to fame. Despite her success, Elizabeth still holds tight to her dream of becoming a real chemist.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is one of the bestselling books in the world, and rightfully so. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is a collection of thought-provoking dialogue, clever quips, and is, most of all, a powerful tribute to feminism.

Find the book, ebook and eaudiobook here.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Hi, my name is Rya. I am a sophomore and I enjoy reading, swimming and traveling.

When he was a senior in high school, James Clear suffered a severe injury while playing baseball, which affected him for many years. In order to overcome this setback, he began implementing simple habits into his daily life and began to discover their power. Now, James Clear is an incredibly well-respected author, speaker, and overall expert on self-improvement and the power of habits. In his #1 New York Times Bestseller Atomic Habits, Clear compiles all of his knowledge and research into a simple, realistic, and easy way to improve one’s life simply by utilizing the power of habits.

All of the advice in this book is backed by scientific research in neuroscience, biology, and psychology. It is filled with easily implementable systems, with the most important points nicely organized in a grid at the end of each chapter. It is packed with hundreds of helpful little tips and enlightening quotes. Essentially, Atomic Habits is a step-by-step guide to creating major change in one’s life, with stress on the underlying idea that “success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformation.”

I highly recommend Atomic Habits as the ultimate guide to creating change of any sort in your life. The science, systems, and tips in this book are applicable to any goal- everything from the desire to eat a more balanced diet or reduce screen time to the dream of building a business or learning a new language.

Find the book, ebook and eaudiobook here.

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham

Hi, my name is Zane. I am in sixth grade. I enjoy playing soccer, video games, and exercising.

Theodore Boone, The Abduction was a great book about a 13-year-old girl named April Finemore who mysteriously disappears overnight. Theodore, April’s best and only friend, is immediately called to April’s house the morning after the abduction. There was no sign of a break-in and no evidence left behind. Except for one thing–the police found letters in April’s room from a relative who recently escaped jail in California. They find Jack Leaper a couple days later but don’t know if he knows where April is or not. A search is immediately started by the police, and by April’s Friend, Theo, who asks some people from his school who wanted to help if they would join him. Nothing is found until a couple weeks later when a dead body is found floating down the river that runs through the town of Spartanburg.

Theodore Boone, The Abduction was a great book and it had a lot of great and exciting parts. The events that lead up to the climax were well organized and made sense. Overall, this was one of my favorite books that I have read and I would recommend it to everybody in my grade.

Find it in print here.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

My name is Advik. I am in 8th grade. I love to swim, bike, watch TV and much more.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson is by far the best mystery book I have ever read. The book takes you on an exhilarating ride of suspense and nail-biting experiences, making it a nonstop read. I started reading Five Survive at night and couldn’t put the book down.

17-year-old Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Red’s best friend, her older brother, his perfect girlfriend, a classmate, and the guy Red wishes was more than a friend. When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, not once but twice, they realize this is not an accident. As the man shoots three warning shots, breaking the windows, they realize there is someone out there, someone who clearly wants them dead. A failed escape attempt discloses that there are two shooters. The shooters also plant a walkie-talkie on the RV to communicate with the six friends. The shooters claim that one of them has a secret. They want the friends to work out who that person is and send them outside the RV. It doesn’t take long to realize that they all have kept secrets from each other. After hearing the secrets, loyalties change before the night ends, and violence erupts inside the RV.

As I mentioned before, this is a fantastic book. I recommend this book for ages 12 and above due to some inappropriate language. I strongly encourage everybody who loves mystery to try out this exhilarating book.

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, CD and DVD here.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

My name is Camille and I am in 8th grade. I love to snowboard and play volleyball. I love to read mysteries and fantasy books.

This book is called A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and is written by Holly Jackson. This book is about a girl named Pip who starts an investigation project in her senior year of high school. She is researching a case that happened five years ago and the conclusion doesn’t seem accurate to Pip.

In this book Pip discovers secrets from her town and her closest friends that she might not have wanted to know. However, she pushes through all of the challenges and shocks that come her way and ends up solving the mystery in a very surprising way.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the plot was very unpredictable. There were always twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. I also liked this book because none of the secrets were given away but there were enough hints that made it so I could try and solve the mystery myself before finishing the book. All the characters were so different and had such interesting personalities. This made the book more intriguing because the different personalities helped me try and solve the mystery based on their behavior and hobbies. Overall I loved this book and would definitely read it again. I would recommend this book to someone who likes mystery and suspense. It is a really good book for middle school age kids.

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

Hi, my name is Zane. I am in sixth grade. I enjoy playing soccer, video games, and exercising.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, is about a man named Pete Duffy, who was accused of murdering his wife, who was found on the floor dead in her house. This was one of my favorite books that I have read, but some parts weren’t as interesting as others. Although there were a couple of boring parts, most of the book was very interesting, because there were so many intense scenes where Theodore did not know what to do. For example, there were many times that the lawyers involved in the trial went back and explained how Pete Duffy was guilty of the murder of his wife, or how he was innocent. With that said, they talked a lot about things that were irrelevant to the text, which made these parts boring. These parts were not as fun to read because you wanted to figure out more about the murder.

In the end, the trial was not going how a lot of people wanted it to, until 13-year-old Theodore Boone gets involved and knows something that changes the trial drastically. Overall, I think that many people who are in middle school would enjoy this book, although I wouldn’t recommend it to people below 3rd grade.

Find it in print here.